Pesticides, such as insecticides, are commonly used in agricultural, industrial, and residential settings to battle destructive, pestiferous, and/or disease-carrying insects and other animals. Pesticides have achieved significant successes in controlling pestiferous and disease-vector animals, and have increased in their lethality over the years. However, increasingly, the environmental and human health effects of pesticides, as well as their deleterious effects on beneficial insect species and other animals, have caused users to seek other means for controlling pest populations.
Pentatomoidea is a superfamily of insects that includes some of the stink bugs and shield bugs. The name stink bug derives from their tendency to eject an odiferous defensive substance when disturbed, typically as a form of anti-predator adaptation. The term “stink bug” is also applied to distantly related species such as Boisea trivittata (Say), the “boxelder bug,” and insects such as beetles in the genus Eleodes, such as the pinacate beetle (also known as the stink beetle). Many stink bugs and shield bugs are considered agricultural pest insects. They can generate large populations that damage crop production and are resistant to many pesticides. Moreover, they are often immune to crops that have been genetically modified to be pest-resistant, such as Bt crops (i.e., crops having the protein known as the Bt toxin). Over the past 5-10 years, stink bugs and similar plant pests have become the most serious pest problems in many parts of the world, especially in regions with large areas of Bt crops.
For example, the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), the Halyomorpha halys (Stal) native to Asia, is believed to have been accidentally introduced into the United States as early as 1996, likely as stowaways, possibly as eggs, on packing crates or the like. The BMSB has been recorded in a total of 33 states and the District of Columbia, according to information provided by the National Agricultural Pest Information System (NAPIS) (http://pests.ceris.purdue.edu). In 2010, the BMSB emerged as a severe pest of fruit and other crops across the region. In addition, this invasive species is a serious nuisance for homeowners and businesses as it overwinters in residential houses, commercial buildings, and warehouses.
The BMSB can cause widespread damage to fruit and vegetable crops including peaches, apples, green beans, soybeans, corns, tomatoes, cherries, raspberries, and pears. It is a sucking insect that uses its proboscis to pierce the host plant in order to feed. This feeding may cause necrotic areas on the outer surface of fruits, leaf stippling, cat-facing on tree fruits, seed loss, and transmission of plant pathogens. Frequently, the BMSB survives the winter as an adult by entering structures that shield them from the elements. Inside a house they may initially begin to hibernate and then become more animated due to the warmth of the house.
One of the present inventors has pioneered insect control systems that do not rely on hazardous pesticides to capture and control pest insect populations. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,941, to Schneidmiller, discloses an insect trap selective for wasps that uses an attractant to attract insects into a chamber wherein the insect becomes trapped. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,592, also to Schneidmiller, a fly trap and attractant are disclosed that do not rely on insecticides.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,150,125, Mizell discloses a trap designed for insects, such as stink bugs, similar to the so-called Tedders trap and including a bottom portion formed from two intersecting and tapered planar portions and a bag-like top portion that fits over the lower portion. The Mizell trap, however, does not take advantage of certain behavioral characteristics of the stink bug, and therefore could be more effective. There remains a need for more effective traps for stink bugs, other true bugs, and other pestiferous insects. In particular, improvements in methods and systems for attracting such insects to traps and in enticing attracted insects into entering traps are needed. Methods for attracting and enticing insects that do not rely on toxic chemicals and that may be used indoors as well as outdoors are further desirable.